After being asked to work with the
team put together by Elizabeth Tolley and Scott “Scooter”
Arnold, I was genuinely excited. Elizabeth and Scooter had gathered
the pinnacle of the Carolinas local and regional talent for the
Mac AIDS Benefit. They chose the theme “Elements:” Fire,
Water, Earth, and Air. Although the theme has become very popular
over the last decade, Elements is a broad topic that can be interpreted
in many ways.

Mac is one of the leading suppliers of professional
make-up products. Since clothing is unnecessary in a Mac fashion
show, an understood sensuality makes the event primarily adult oriented.
The audience enjoyed a delectable feast for the eyes complete with
beautiful models in full body make-up adorned with accent fabrics
and natural materials such as branches and flowers. The make-up
design came from the minds of nearly 30 Mac professionals who donated
their time for the AIDS Foundation. These truly talented artists
demonstrated the almost unlimited possibilities of what MAC products
can achieve.

The demands of such an amazing showcase required
flawless and powerful lighting. A volunteer staff of about fifty
people invested nearly a thousand hours promoting, and preparing
for the show, only to see their work displayed over the course of
about twenty four minutes. Each element required 6 to 10 models
with a minute intro into the next element. Unlike a music show where
sound dominates over lighting, or an art show where only the visual
aspect is stimulated, this show relied on the seamless merging of
light, sound, and movement to seduce multiple senses. I knew everyone
would notice the lighting with its many scenes, many settings, and
I had only one chance to get it right. Fortunately, Gil Croy, the
production designer, and I immediately connected on ideas. In about
a half an hour we had already worked out lighting themes and began
working on logistics.

I lined the stage with three 4x8
white scrims back lit by American DJ H20 lights used in various
ways to achieve different effects. I matched the themes with their
most appropriate color. For Water we used a deep blue, for Fire
a deep red, for Earth a Kelly green, and for Air a light blue. A
single light with a 40 degree beam angle was placed about six feet
behind each scrim to backlight each model as they approached the
stage. Their shadows would seemingly rush across one scrim, momentarily
disappearing before reappearing on the next scrim. If you don’t
understand the physics of that paradigm, set up a back lit screen
and experiment with placement of the fixture behind a moving figure.
The lighting was adjusted to about 18 inches above the stage floor
so that the shadow of the tallest model would hover near the top
of the scrim. I wrapped the front of the fixture with tinfoil shuttering
the edge to focus on each scrim individually. A single light across
all three scrims would have made the motion too consistent and uninteresting.
The dynamic shadows of the hair styling and adornments provided
a preview which heightened the audience’s anticipation before
even reaching stage front.

The most important element of every
fashion show is the adornment usually clothing but in this case
make-up. Everthing from lighting to stage to music is nothing more
than beautiful packaging for an extravagant gift. The runway had
to have the same impact as the entrance. To add texture to the room,
I used gobo break-ups in eight elation power spots to suggest light
breaking through the trees overhead, suggesting an romantic garden
setting. The runway was positioned in the middle of the room with
very little clearance overhead. Without room for a follow spot,
and a setting too intimate for lighting the entire runway, I created
a lighting scheme that followed the models down the runway. To keep
the room dark and the models bright, I used 4 Elation Power Washes
programmed with 10 preset positions up and down the stage. The washes,
positioned on the front and back of the runway, and timed to the
models’ progression, completely lit the models on all points
of the runway.

Working with different exhibits at Discovery Place,
a science museum in Charlotte, I learned a subtle lighting trick
that can disguise minor imperfections. The lighting principle is
to color match your object. If the object is red use a red tint,
if your object is blue a blue tint. For example, a red light on
a red object does very little but a red light on a brown object
makes the object look red. All marks and blemishes on a red surface
suddenly fade away under a red light, making the object appear new.
Each Element theme was characterized by a color. Earth was characterized
by greens in the design of the make up and costuming, Fire by reds
and oranges, Air by light tones of blue and white, Water by rich
shades of blue and aqua. Using the principle of color matching,
I added hints of red and orange into white light for the theme of
Fire, hints of blue into Air, hints of blues and greens into Water,
and hints of green into Earth. Thus, I accentuated and polished
the beauty inherent in the body art.

For impact at the end of the runway, I used an
Elation Proton Color blast effect. The light suddenly bursts 1500W
of power through the lamp then slowly returns to 750W before turning
off. The blast effectively wowed the audience. Gasps we uttered
throughout the crowd as the entire room brightened under the radiance
of the beauty before them.

The room was packed during the event. The effects
and designs were flawlessly performed and executed. The awe of the
viewers lingered throughout the night as they slowly began to pull
themselves back to reality. The Mac AIDS benefit not only raised
money for charity, the experience shook the audiences’ perception
of fashion.